Proper battery discharge

[P4 Phlyer]

The storage mode is used to discharge the batteries down to 50%. When the led turns blue on the charging hub, that battery is done discharging and you can remove it from the charging hub.

FYI, the batteries will auto discharge on their own if you do not press the battery button. That function is built into the battery.

What happens when I remove them from the charging hub. Will they further discharge or remain at
the same level of charge?

 

[msinger]

What happens when I remove them from the charging hub. Will they further discharge or remain at
the same level of charge?

The batteries will slowly discharge over time if not used. It would take at least 3-4 months for them to discharge down to an unsafe storage level. When not using batteries for a long period of time, I maintain them in storage like this.

 

[Stevo0596]

Based on what's in the manual, some You Tube clips I've seen and experience, this is what I do.

1. I don't store my batteries fully charged.
2. I charge the night before or on the day I go flying.
3. This means I store my batteries with a 10-30% charge.
4. I set my discharge period to 3 days.
5. I don't store a battery in the drone when not in use. If the battery should fail and swell you won't be able to easily get it out. If the battery should burst then who knows what damage it will do.
6. I perform a deep discharge about every 25-30 charges, as recommended. The way I do this is complete a flight and discharge the battery as much as I can, then leave the battery on (in the AC) until it goes out. According to advice the battery will still have a 'real' approx. 10% charge left.
7. I make sure I charge batteries inside the working temperature envelope for the battery.
8. I keep an eye on battery operating temperature. Particularly I don't want them getting too hot while running (=discharging).

What I know:
1. LiPo batteries don't have a memory.
2. These LiPo batteries are good for approx. 100 charge cycles.
3. If you store a fully charged battery and it slowly discharges you lose one of these charge cycles. You don't need to.
4. Never fully discharge a LiPo battery. And I mean FULLY discharge. The battery management system will have difficulty restarting and recharging the battery.
5. If LiPo batteries are charged too hot or too cold the resultant change to the battery chemistry effectively shortens the battery life (read charge cycles).
6. At AUS$250 (that's Australian dollars) I want to get the most out of my investment.

Hope this helps. Yes I know previous posts in this thread cover some of this. I just like to share. As you can see by my avatar I might be just a little obsessed by my drones batteries.

 

[Meta4]

6. I perform a deep discharge about every 25-30 charges, as recommended. The way I do this is complete a flight and discharge the battery as much as I can, then leave the battery on (in the AC) until it goes out. According to advice the battery will still have a 'real' approx. 10% charge left.

DJI haven't recommended deep discharging for a long time. There's no mention of it in current manuals.
It's something from the old days of dumb Lipo batteries but not needed with DJI batteries that are a lot more complex.

 

[KDCypP4Adv]

" Firstly you are cycling the batteries without actually flying them even if it is only a half cycle. Since the number of cycles is the best indication of battery life, I would always like to use those cycles to fly not just dissipate into heat.

Secondly, battery life is reduced during the time they are fully charged (especially if they are also above 30 Deg C or 86 F), that is a worthwhile sacrifice if you are about to fly but why reduce your battery life if you are not about to fly."

Good point, it's having a good understanding so the optimum usage of the dock is to fly the bird down to below the 50% battery storage level and charge back up to storage level (on storage setting), is. no wasted down cycles.

I love the previous posters idea of coupling that with a spare fully charged 'yard' battery so you're always ready to fly.
I wonder if I'd get lazy always use the yard battery instead of planning for the day / waiting to charge the others.

 

[KDCypP4Adv]

Based on what's in the manual, some You Tube clips I've seen and experience, this is what I do.

1. I don't store my batteries fully charged.
2. I charge the night before or on the day I go flying.
3. This means I store my batteries with a 10-30% charge.
4. I set my discharge period to 3 days.
5. I don't store a battery in the drone when not in use. If the battery should fail and swell you won't be able to easily get it out. If the battery should burst then who knows what damage it will do.
6. I perform a deep discharge about every 25-30 charges, as recommended. The way I do this is complete a flight and discharge the battery as much as I can, then leave the battery on (in the AC) until it goes out. According to advice the battery will still have a 'real' approx. 10% charge left.
7. I make sure I charge batteries inside the working temperature envelope for the battery.
8. I keep an eye on battery operating temperature. Particularly I don't want them getting too hot while running (=discharging).

What I know:
1. LiPo batteries don't have a memory.
2. These LiPo batteries are good for approx. 100 charge cycles.
3. If you store a fully charged battery and it slowly discharges you lose one of these charge cycles. You don't need to.
4. Never fully discharge a LiPo battery. And I mean FULLY discharge. The battery management system will have difficulty restarting and recharging the battery.
5. If LiPo batteries are charged too hot or too cold the resultant change to the battery chemistry effectively shortens the battery life (read charge cycles).
6. At AUS$250 (that's Australian dollars) I want to get the most out of my investment.

Hope this helps. Yes I know previous posts in this thread cover some of this. I just like to share. As you can see by my avatar I might be just a little obsessed by my drones batteries.

Thanks for your superb informative post.
Can I ask when you say "never fully discharge a battery" presumably you don't mean via leaving the drone to run it down (which as you say DJI Go's 0% is a true 10%) but presumably by some other method e.g., one of those $5 discharge kits seen recommended on other posts that have LED light/USB sockets for charging smartphones by discharging the battery to 'true' 0%?

There's a lot of advice in similar subjects on this forum by people like me who've read everything DJI print but misinterpret because DJI haven't explained intelligently (unlike your simple yet informed post).

 

[KDCypP4Adv]

DJI haven't recommended deep discharging for a long time. There's no mention of it in current manuals.
It's something from the old days of dumb Lipo batteries but not needed with DJI batteries that are a lot more complex.

Actually in the latest battery manual V1.0 2017.04 see maintenance item 3 they recommend a full discharge and recharge every 3 months.

 

[Stevo0596]

I believe there is still some debate around the 3 month full discharge / recharge process.

When I discharge the battery I do it with the aircraft so the battery management hardware is in control. Even when the battery says it is fully discharged I believe it still has a small actual charge remaining (around 10%).

From what I have read / discussed. You should never let the (LiPo) battery really get fully discharged. By this I mean the battery really has no charge at all. This means the battery management system will no longer be active as it has nothing to power it. This is the situation when battery damage can potentially occur.

 

[KDCypP4Adv]

I believe there is still some debate around the 3 month full discharge / recharge process.

When I discharge the battery I do it with the aircraft so the battery management hardware is in control. Even when the battery says it is fully discharged I believe it still has a small actual charge remaining (around 10%).

From what I have read / discussed. You should never let the (LiPo) battery really get fully discharged. By this I mean the battery really has no charge at all. This means the battery management system will no longer be active as it has nothing to power it. This is the situation when battery damage can potentially occur.

Thanks for your advice.
I only just realised that there is a difference in the % display compared with the remaining cell voltage display on the battery page in settings. The % can say 0% and the drone shutdown but the cells still show a material level of charge in the cell display on the settings page. Therefore there's no harm caused to the battery in allowing it to switch itself off as there is still sufficient charge remaining for the intelligent software (if I've understood you correctly).

 

[SoundByte]

What happens when I remove them from the charging hub. Will they further discharge or remain at
the same level of charge?

You do not have to take them out of the hub, it'll maintain them at 50%. FYI- you can check your battery health(ie:life remaining) by holding down the power button for 5secs, the the LED will give you an idea % wise before you need to retire it.

 

[Stevo0596]

Reference KDCypP4Adv's last post on this thread. Yes you have understood me correctly. The post directly above from SoundByte is the key. Holding the power button down for 5 secs displays the battery life (as opposed to charge) using the LED's.

 

[SoundByte]

If you want to discharge you battery completely DJI recommends simply installing it in the bird and turning it on for a slow discharge, or in regular flight for a fast discharge. According to the manual this will take the battery to 8%.

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

If you want to discharge you battery completely DJI recommends simply installing it in the bird and turning it on for a slow discharge, or in regular flight for a fast discharge. According to the manual this will take the battery to 8%.

Just did that, 4h 14min to discharge, in bird, no props with fan blowing on bird.

 

[SoundByte]

Just did that, 4h 14min to discharge, in bird, no props with fan blowing on bird.

Patience of Job! LOL

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

Patience of Job! LOL

Oh, it was great fun, the dog loved the flashing lights.

 

[jlrsn]

I also used most of the time consuming methods to maintain my Phantom 4 and Inspire 1V2 Batteries until I heard about and bought a Phantom Angel. I bought the version that maintains both the Phantom and Inspire Batteries. It's mostly foolproof! Take a look at:
[email protected]

 

[jlrsn]

I also used most of the time consuming methods to maintain my Phantom 4 and Inspire 1V2 Batteries until I heard about and bought a Phantom Angel. I bought the version that maintains both the Phantom and Inspire Batteries. It's mostly foolproof!
Contact Alex at:
[email protected]
]

 

[WynstonFlys]

Hello fellow pilots,

So I have two P4 Batteries that I have been using for around 3 months. I have been reading some other blogs and websites saying that you should fly the drone until it is around 8% and then put the battery in the drone and let it idle and and go to 0%. From there you then charge it back up to 100% to complete the recommended battery cycle every 20 charges or so according to DJI. Other people said that going to 0% would kill the battery. I do know that you should not let the battery go below a certain voltage, but I am still a little unclear about the proper discharge cycle that DJI suggest you do every 3 months.

So what should I do to keep my batteries healthy?

Comments and help are appreciated.

 

[msinger]

So what should I do to keep my batteries healthy?

Do these things:

• Don't charge your batteries unless you're going to fly (or you're trying to maintain the charge level like this).
  
  
• When done flying, charge your batteries back up to the storage level (if you're not going to use them again in the next few days) or let them auto discharge down to the storage level (if the current charge level is above that). The batteries are at the optimal level for storage when the 3rd battery light starts blinking while you're charging them.
  
  
• Store your batteries indoors (in normal room temperature).
  
  
• When not using your batteries, maintain the charge level like this.
  
  
• Power up your Phantom with each battery installed and set the "Time to Discharge" setting (see the screenshot below) to the number of days you'd like your batteries to wait before starting to auto discharge down to the storage level. You'll need to reset this setting after new firmware is installed on your batteries.
  
  When your batteries are idle (meaning you don't press the battery button), they will start to auto discharge after that number of days has been reached. It could take a few days for them to auto discharge if fully charged. Pressing the battery button at any time during this process will cancel the auto discharge process and make your batteries wait that number of days before attempting to discharge again.
  
  
  

 

[KDCypP4Adv]

Does anyone know whether the charging hub is designed to be safely left switched on for months in storage mode so that when the battery drops below storage levels it will automatically come on and charge up to storage levels again?
The only clue in the manual is the word ‘keep’:
“Storage Mode allows the Charging Hub to keep the Phantom 4 Intelligent Flight Battery at a 50% charge, which is ideal for storage.”